Carsten Steffen, CEO applaudTo
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MLOVE & Reeperbahn Festival present a brand new event format:
Mobile x Music, September 20, 2012, Hamburg
Carsten Steffen, CEO applaudTo
Music Industry
The future of music: “Crowdsourcing and voluntary appreciation.”
MLOVE: Do you feel social media and other music sharing tools help to promote an artist’s success?
Carsten Steffen: YES, absolutely!
MLOVE: How important are cooperations between artists, labels, marketers, brands in the 21st century? Does Mobile technology give artists more independence?
Carsten Steffen: Red Bull Music Academy is a cool initiative, there should be more like that. Brands enabling creativity NOT via stupid ads but with a long term concept allowing things to happen, allowing listeners to get to hear something they might not have heard that easily.
MLOVE: In your opinion, what is the main source of income for artists today?
Carsten Steffen: Live performance! Even top guys can’t live by the money coming from record sales. And … applaudTo has a solution to that problem!
MLOVE: What is your favorite tool, device or app to play music from?
Carsten Steffen: Traktor by Native Instruments from my MacBook Pro adding a controller when DJing live / in front of audience.
Streaming, Mobile Radio
Create a situation where the musician can donate the gift he or she has been given
MLOVE: How is your music library or collection typically stored, displayed or shared?
Carsten Steffen: Digital files on my (external) HD. Just a bit of Spotify.
MLOVE: Do you watch music videos? Have your music video preferences changed from back in the days when they were available on MTV to currently, where we find video clips mostly on platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Tape, etc?
Carsten Steffen: Rarely. Compared with the MTV days I also like the music videos generated my music lovers, adding pictures to the songs they love and sharing that on video platforms like YouTube and Vimeo.
MLOVE: How do you consume music from your mobile device? Buying, listening to, recommending through social media platforms….
Carsten Steffen: iPhone: Buying mostly from Beatport & whatpeopleplay, very rarely from iTunes, recommending rather online (browser)
Future
MLOVE: What is your vision for the Future of the Music Industry?
Carsten Steffen: Crowdsourcing and voluntary appreciation.
MLOVE: What vision / motivation was the passion behind the choice to create your music service?
Carsten Steffen:
-To create a global platform allowing fans to directly show their appreciation for songs and musicians (artists) in a way that goes way beyond clicking on a like button.
– Detaching a song from a fixed price of which the musician get about 2-5%.
– Create a situation where the musician can donate the gift he or she has been given – in other words donate their music – and giving the fans the chance to financially support them directly on a by choice basis
MLOVE: Is there any kind of Mobile service you wish we still used more popularly in the music industry?
Carsten Steffen: Live streams from clubs / concerts. Something like Boiler Room taken mobile would be cool!
